Latest news with #LopezResearch
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
AMD earnings on deck: Have investors been 'overenthusiastic'?
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) will release second quarter results after Tuesday's closing bell. Lopez Research founder Maribel Lopez outlines her expectations for AMD's earnings report on Market Catalysts. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Catalysts. How do you think AMD's doing and what are the results going to show to reflect that? Yeah, in some ways, I think this is a completely different story because from the perspective of AMD, I do think that there's tremendous growth potential for them. The question is, is have we been over enthusiastic because realistically, when people are looking for AI investments, uh yes, there's AI and everything, but there are a few companies you can point to that are so very discreetly AI focused, right? And chip is one of those categories. Where I see the big growth for AMD is both on the lower end, which is the CPU, and on the higher end, which is the GPU market. So they actually are playing both of those games, which is relatively unique in terms of competitor that can play both of those games well right now. And one of the things they have going for them is everybody wants to create a strong competitor to Nvidia. And we thought for a long time that was going to be Intel. We saw what's happened with Intel, you know, there's still opportunity for Intel to come back in and be a player, but right now people are placing a second bet, they're placing that second bet on AMD. And that makes it a very interesting stock to own. Um, when you look at, you know, we've had some guests say to us, well, AMD sort of provides a cheaper alternative to Nvidia, not just talking about the chips, but the stock itself. Um, it has gotten a little bit less so, you know, we've seen um, that the stock has recovered quite a bit, especially into these earnings. So again, just like we talked about Palenteer, what would you say about the expectations for for AMD at this point? So one thing I think has been very interesting is that recent bump in pricing that they've had on their AI GPUs, right? A significant hike in pricing, which should actually help some of the margin issue that we've been thinking about with AMD. They've typically been known as a lower cost provider that was sort of a Trojan horse strategy to get in, but if you're pricing yourself even, you know, in this case, it would be somewhere between 17 to 25 odd percent less than, you know, a basic Nvidia Blackwell GPU, it's still a value. And when you're buying that many of them in a hyper scalar landscape, there's still a lot of opportunity. So I think that there's some letters that AMD can still provide, but no doubt, there's been just a tremendous run-up in AMD, and as we mentioned earlier, Palenteer. There's a lot of frothiness in the market, and the actual purchases might not meet today's frothiness.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
AMD earnings on deck: Have investors been 'overenthusiastic'?
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) will release second quarter results after Tuesday's closing bell. Lopez Research founder Maribel Lopez outlines her expectations for AMD's earnings report on Market Catalysts. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Catalysts. Related videos 5 Singapore Stocks Whose Share Prices Surged 13% or More in a Month: Are They Screaming Buys? 4 Companies That Hiked Their Dividends by Double-Digit Percentages Gold extends gains on US rate cut expectations Smart Reads of the Week: Dividend Stocks, REITs, IPOs and US Growth Opportunities Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
17-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How Best Buy Uses AI To Transform Customer Experience
Best Buy Co. faced a daunting challenge that would sound familiar to many large corporations: multiple different software applications were needed to run its contact centers, creating a maze of complexity for customer service agents and frustrating experiences for shoppers seeking help. "When I came into this space, we had 93 applications that were needed to run our contact centers," Daniels revealed. This fragmentation created what she describes as "incredibly sticky and muddy" experiences for both agents and customers. Rather than simply layering AI on top of this fragmented system, the Minneapolis-based retailer took a step back. The company's approach—starting with customer outcomes rather than flashy AI capabilities—has yielded rapid results and provides a roadmap for other businesses grappling with how to effectively deploy AI technology. "AI is not the goal. It is one solution and often needs to be incorporated with many others to bring an actual experience to life," said Ashley Daniels, Best Buy's vice president of product management, in a recent interview with Lopez Research. Best Buy's disciplined approach stands in stark contrast to the AI frenzy that has gripped corporate America since the debut of ChatGPT. While many companies have rushed to implement artificial intelligence tools, often with mixed results, Best Buy has focused on solving specific business problems. Best Buy's AI strategy focuses on three core areas, each designed to enhance different aspects of the customer journey: The company launched a gen AI-powered virtual assistant that enables customers to independently handle complex tasks, such as troubleshooting product issues, rescheduling deliveries, and managing subscriptions. Best Buy didn't just launch a simple chatbot—it's an intelligent system that can understand context and provide meaningful solutions across web, mobile app, and phone channels. Best Buy has also created AI solutions that provide advanced assistance to customer care agents. The system provides real-time conversation assessment, sentiment detection, and contextual recommendations, enabling agents to focus on building personal connections with customers. As the company notes, these tools "are designed to help reduce the mental workload for agents, allowing them to better focus on personally connecting with the Best Buy customer." Putting AI assistive tools in the hands of front line workers can fundamentally change the customer experience. Companies like Wendy's are experiencing the benefits of this strategy today and Best Buy story highlights a similar trend. Beyond customer-facing applications, Best Buy is developing AI assistants for front-line employees. These tools provide easier access to company resources and product guides, enabling store associates to serve customers more efficiently and confidently. Additionally, Best Buy commits to transparency, always informing customers when they're interacting with AI rather than humans. However, the company strives to make those interactions feel natural and helpful. The strategy appears to be working. The company deployed AI-powered conversation summarization in its contact centers in just six to eight weeks—a timeline that surprised even internal teams. But Daniels cautions that not every AI project moves that quickly. The retailer's experience suggests that successful AI deployment requires managing expectations. While some capabilities can be implemented quickly, others take time to develop properly. Best Buy created a vision for its AI-powered customer service a year before the technology was fully ready to support it. "The technology is catching up to our vision," Daniels said. "When you give the technology a chance to catch up to your vision, it makes it less painful." Best Buy's AI initiative relies on partnerships with Google Cloud and consulting firm Accenture—a three-way arrangement that divides responsibilities strategically. Google provides the underlying AI technology and rapid innovation. The company's partnership with Google Cloud wasn't just about adopting new AI capabilities—it was about fundamental architectural consolidation. Despite serving similar conversational functions, Best Buy recognized that their chatbot and IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems were built by separate teams using different solutions. This insight led to a unified approach where AI could power consistent experiences across all customer touchpoints. Accenture brings implementation and regional experience from working with multiple companies. Meanwhile, Best Buy maintains control over customer experience decisions and business strategy. Daniels emphasizes that partnership doesn't mean abdication of responsibility: "Just because you have partners does not mean that you get to step back and take your hands off the wheel... we're the only people that can make decisions about the experiences we want for our customers." The retailer's experience highlights a crucial lesson that many AI enthusiasts overlook: the underlying business infrastructure matters as much as the artificial intelligence solutions. Daniels compares the process to remodeling a house. If your foundation isn't solid, your windows leak, your walls will have cracks, and you're not going to achieve the outcomes that you want. For Best Buy, the foundation includes clean data, updated software interfaces that enable different systems to communicate, and a deep understanding of how the business operates. "People think that when AI shows up to save the day, we no longer need domain experts," Daniels said. "In my opinion, it's the exact opposite." She likens training AI systems to managing a new teenage employee who needs guidance from experienced mentors to be effective. For businesses considering their own AI initiatives, Best Buy's leaders offer two key recommendations. First, define clear outcomes before selecting technology. "Be thoughtful about what outcome it is that you want to drive," Daniels said. Second, invest in foundational capabilities, including data quality, modernizing APIs, system integration, and employee expertise. Without these elements, even sophisticated AI tools are likely to disappoint. While there is considerable hype surrounding the creation of fully autonomous workloads with agentic AI, today's AI success stories treat the technology as a tool to enhance human capabilities rather than replace them entirely. Best Buy has taken this approach, and other companies, such as Cisco, have also shared how AI will assist their employees in delivering faster, better customer experiences. Best Buy's measured approach suggests that sustainable success with AI technology comes from being thoughtful.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Nvidia GTC: 'There's no one else in the AI market' like Nvidia
Nvidia (NVDA) stock is in focus as the chipmaker kicks off its annual GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose, California. Lopez Research founder Maribel Lopez outlines what she's expecting from the Nvidia conference and discusses the recent sell-off in the chipmaker's stock. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief here. We got to talk a little Nvidia, the only member of the magnificent seven in the green pre-market this morning. It comes as the tech giants GTC AI conference kicks off in San Jose, but our next guest isn't sure that this will be enough to snap the tech route here. Ahead of CEO Jensen Huang's highly anticipated keynote address tomorrow, we have Maribel Lopez. Lopez Research founder for more on what to expect from the conference. Maribel, thanks for taking the time this morning. What are you going to be looking out for? I'm looking out for Jensen's discussion of the next wave of post Blackwell chips and how that's going to enable us to get to another higher level categorization of AI beyond where we are today. I think that's what he's gunning for tomorrow. And and do you think that that is going to be enough to lead to a significant recovery in the stock just given the amount of selling that we have seen from Nvidia shareholders? What I see where they are right now is really Nvidia is the best game in town if you're looking for investing in AI, they're the company that sells the picks and shovels. Everybody's going to continue to buy them for the foreseeable future. Uh but there's still quite a bit of discussion about how do we get back to uh really extreme growth and better margins for Nvidia. So I think there's going to be some discussion in the investor community about how do we navigate that. And so with that in mind, you you acknowledge what is the major consideration for investors, which is the the growth ramp and then the stalling out. And then the other side of that is, okay, the deceleration. What type of deceleration are you anticipating here within that growth figure and and how that kind of measures up to some of the investor expectations? So where we are right now is the Blackwell chip ramp is back on track. They are actually pulling that in significantly. It's had some impact on their margins, but they're going to sell through on that and they're looking at the next generations. What we see needing to happen moving forward in this space is there's a 10x performance improvement that will get us to the next wave beyond reasoning or even more reasoning within an AI. AIs talking to AIs. But that is not a short-term growth ramp. That is not something that you could see really happening in the 2025 time frame. That's going to be the next wave in 2026. So I think it's going to be a rough navigation period in between. But the reality situation is Nvidia is selling everything it can make right now. So therefore, have we priced in that everything that they can make right now, that's a bit unclear. So we'll have to see how the investors are feeling about do they think that there's more potential upside for the hyperscalers. The hyperscalers have been very clear that they are going to build to enterprise demand. They're not going to overbuild for demand. So really, I think we won't know the answer to this question until we start to see how companies like uh Microsoft, AWS, Google, IBM, how they're actually positioning what's going on with AI in the enterprise. And Maribel, I hear you painting sort of a longer term bull case for Nvidia, but I just wonder what's going to get us back to the prior all-time high that we had in mid-February. Are some of the product announcements and the longer-term plans going to be enough for investors to recover some of what they've lost by holding Nvidia in the short term? I think in the post keynote after tomorrow, there's going to be tremendous enthusiasm for the future of Nvidia because Jensen does tell the story of how AI will evolve very successfully. He's done that in all of his conferences. Uh but the reality of the matter is we've been very aggressive on Nvidia stock and we've been very aggressive as a market on AI in general. And now we're at that rubber meets the road standpoint where will actual buyers be buying enough of cloud computing AI technology to actually keep this wave going? And I think we've got a good six months where there's still a lag between what we want to have happen and what buyers are actually buying. And so considering the run-up that we've seen and appreciation in the share price for Nvidia over the course of the larger AI theme, is that still the best in class trade for that theme? If you're looking at AI, they actually are the people that sell AI technology. Every single hardware vendor is standing up strategies at GTC over the course of this week to talk about how they're working in with Nvidia, how they're putting Nvidia in their stack. So I think that they're going to continue to have high sell through on their top line for their products. There's no one else in the AI market that is doing the kind of AI sales that Nvidia has been doing, but that's at a chip level. I mean, everything beyond that is like goes from chips, then it goes to cloud, then it goes to software, and we are just not at the software level yet. So right now, Nvidia seems to be the game to beat. Another potential catalyst from video is Quantum, and we spoke with the CEO of D-Wave about their earnings and their quantum supercomputer. To what extent do you see quantum computing as a potential tailwind or headwind for Nvidia, especially given some of that competition that we're seeing? Quantum is another one of those categories that fits into more of a long game strategy. I absolutely believe that quantum will happen. We've seen tremendous progress from all of the companies that are building quantum this year, even uh having said that, most organizations are doing quantum for the research community. It's a long lead time from the research community out into the general enterprise. So I don't think that this is really going to be driving significant revenue growth for anyone in tech for some time. All right, Maribel, we got to leave it there. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you.
